What Affects TV Antenna Reception – 2024 Guide
Just because you have a TV antenna doesn’t mean it will automatically give you the best signal when watching television.
Bad reception has always been the main problem with this way of watching television, but what would be the cause of that? As you might imagine, there could be dozens of reasons why your antenna isn’t receiving the best signal.
This results in you not getting the content that you’ve paid for, but that also causes stress and anger from being denied the content we want.
So, because of that, we wanted to clarify what the deciding factors are between getting our precious TV time and getting it interference-free.
1. Distance
Since a TV antenna needs to connect to a broadcasting source, one of the biggest interference issues are related between the distance of the source and the receiver.
The antenna is the receiver, but being too far from a broadcasting source will present issues while watching television. Signals have no problem traveling over long distances, but the signal gets weaker and weaker with every mile traveled.
This is why you see antennas literary everywhere. If the signal from one tower has a reach of 20 sq mi, then we’d need two towers to cover the area of 30 sq mi.
But this issue is also the easiest one to resolve. Namely, there are simple devices called amplifiers that can be installed by the same providers that install your antenna.
This device does an excellent job of bolstering the receiving signal before passing it on to your TV set. An amplifier, or signal booster as they’re called, makes sure that the receiving signal is up to standards before it could reach your TV screen.
2. Splitters
A splitter is a simple device that makes it possible to combine multiple antennas into a single one for all of your television needs.
This scenario of watching TV is very real and very common in the States. Some providers don’t have all the channels that we want. This means that a lot of U.K. families will use two antenna providers so they can watch all their favorite shows and programs.
But the inconvenient problem here is that multiple antennas would need to send and receive multiple signals at the same time. So, what you can do is use a splitter to combine all antennas into a single transmitter.
Unfortunately, this is even worse than having all antennas separately because splitters are well known to interfere with your signal.
As a matter of fact, this is one major factor that affects the quality of the signal. What’s even worse, yeah, that wasn’t all of it, is that the receiving signal from the broadcasting tower will get worse every time you use the splitter.
But there is a silver lining in this situation. Like the previous one, you could use a device called a pre-amplifier to help you put this problem to bed.
The experts over at TV aerial installation from Manchester provide these services to ensure no interference during your TV time. If you’re having a problem with your TV set, then click here for more information.
3. Mountains & Valleys
We mentioned that signal travels from your local broadcasting tower to your antenna and then to your TV set.
Well, a real reception issue could be if the broadcasting tower is located deep within a valley or even worse if it’s behind a large mountain.
That’s because the broadcasting tower needs to send the signal within a line of sight to your antenna. If there’s a large mountain standing between your receiver and the transmitter, then the signal will start to fade gradually.
4. Threes
Threes can also block the signal from reaching your antenna. While it’s awesome to be surrounded by trees, too many of them, or if they’re of a certain height, can also mess with the signal.
While this is the problem that affects your TV the least, it is still something to think about. But threes can become an issue between seasons, especially spring and summer. During these two seasons, the foliage can increase and the win can negatively affect the signal from reaching its destination.
5. Large Buildings
Large buildings have the same effect as mountains or forests when the signal needs to reach your receiver. Every building is built differently, but all have one thing in common – concrete.
Concrete makes it really hard for the signal to pass through it. If a fairly large concrete building happens to be standing in the way of the broadcasting tower, then the signal can be problematic.
Also, buildings that have lots of mirrors can create something called multipath interference. This is a process when an incoming signal gets reflected and, in most cases, bounces off a particular surface.
6. Power Lines
Power lines are essential for every home. We heavily rely on electricity as our main source of power, but they can be pretty bad for your antenna.
Overhead power lines can be found literary everywhere, but some can interfere with your signal by effectively reflecting the signal away from the receiver.
This is the worst-case scenario, and this rarely happens. But a quite common thing is for the power lines to decrease the antenna’s ability and capacity to intercept these signals.
7. LTE Towers
LTE towers are towers that make talking on the phone a possibility. However, LTE towers send and receive signals the same was as broadcasting towers.
What they have in common is the fact that they both create an invisible interference that cannot be predicted nor seen. And, since we’re still talking about signals, LTE cellular towers can mess up your antenna’s ability to receive the signal from the broadcasting tower.
Luckily for us, a new technology that allows signal filtering has emerged and has put an end to this issue. When on the subject of signal filtering, most antennas nowadays build the same way so they can filter out unwanted signals and prevent them from interfering with the main signal.
